Blagojevich could be big game for federal corruption hunters

Monday

Apr 28, 2008 at 12:01 AMApr 28, 2008 at 3:44 PM

The high-stakes court room drama was all about politics, patronage and payoffs. Illinoisans watched in fascination as George Ryan, the once-mighty Republican governor, fought to avoid a one-way ticket to federal prison but lost. And now they wonder: Will his Democratic successor, Rod Blagojevich, be next?

The high-stakes court room drama was all about politics, patronage and payoffs.

Illinoisans watched in fascination as George Ryan, the once-mighty Republican governor, fought to avoid a one-way ticket to federal prison but lost. And now they wonder: Will his Democratic successor, Rod Blagojevich, be next?

“I think the governor is in extraordinarily big trouble,” Cindi Canary, director of the nonpartisan, foundation-funded Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said this past week as Blagojevich’s woes grew.

The governor’s name has surfaced repeatedly in the federal corruption trial of Antoin “Tony” Rezko, the Chicago real estate developer and fast-food tycoon who raised more than $1.6 million for Blagojevich’s campaign fund.

Rezko, who became one of the most trusted members of Blagojevich’s inner circle, is accused of using that clout to gain control of two powerful boards and engineer a $7 million kickback scheme. Rezko denies that he took part in any such scheme.

The governor has been accused of no wrongdoing; none of the charges in the Rezko case say that the governor committed a crime.

His spokeswoman, Abby Ottenhoff, says that claims about Blagojevich that have come out at the trial are fictitious. “We don’t do business that way,” she says.

But the seven weeks of testimony in the Rezko trial thus far have included suggestions that Blagojevich may have rewarded a campaign contributor with a job on the state payroll and promised big-money state contracts to a prominent fundraiser if he would join the governor’s team.

Recall measure in works?
Politics watchers are buzzing and some lawmakers pushing for a ballot measure that would let voters decide on a constitutional amendment to allow the recall of top elected officials.

Stuart Levine, the government’s star witness, testified that when he flew home with Blagojevich from an October 2003 fundraiser in New York, he thanked the governor for reappointing him to a key state board.

“Never discuss any state board with me,” Levine quoted Blagojevich as telling him that day. “You discuss those with either Tony Rezko or (campaign fundraiser) Chris Kelly. But you stick with us, and you will do very well for yourself.”

“What did you take (the governor) to mean by that?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Niewoehner asked Levine.

“I took it to mean that I would have an opportunity to make a lot of money,” Levine said.

Attorney Joseph Cari, who has pleaded guilty to attempted extortion, testified that he phoned an investment firm wanting to do business with the $40 billion state fund that pays the pensions of retired teachers.

He said he told them that if they wanted their $800,000 allocation they had to sign a contract to pay a $750,000 fee to a total stranger.

An executive of the private equity firm, Clyde Robinson, told the jury that he was stunned to hear Cari’s explanation for the bizarre contract.

“That’s the way the governor handles patronage here,” he quoted Cari as saying.
Cari, a former finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee,
said that Blagojevich confided that he had plans to run for office beyond the
governorship and there would be legal work, investment banking work and consulting work for those who helped.

Finance director to take stand
Former Illinois Finance Authority executive director Ali Ata is scheduled to take the stand this week, and prosecutors say he is willing to testify that he delivered a $25,000 campaign contribution to Rezko’s office while Blagojevich was present.

While the three men sat at a conference table with the check on the table, he says Blagojevich asked Rezko if he had spoken to Ata about a job on the state payroll. Ata claims that when he later contributed an additional $25,000, Blagojevich told him the state job should be one in which he could “make some money.”

That ignited fresh outrage at the Statehouse in Springfield.

“How many of our governors have to go to jail before we wake up?” asked state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock. “We’ve become a laughingstock.”

A history of indictments
Over the past four decades, four former Illinois governors have faced federal indictments and three were convicted.

Republican William Stratton was charged with tax fraud. He beat the rap. But Democrats Otto Kerner and Dan Walker both went to federal prison.

The Ryan scandal began with charges that driver’s license examiners had taken payoffs from unqualified truck drivers when he was secretary of state and ended with his 2006 racketeering conviction. Now 73, Ryan is serving 6 1/2 years in the federal correctional camp in Terre Haute, Ind.

He was convicted of killing an investigation of driver’s license bribery, using state resources in his campaigns and steering state leases and contracts to old friends and lobbyists who in turn showered him with goodies ranging from vacations in Jamaica and Mexico to a free golf bag.

But before that happened, Scott Fawell — who masterminded Ryan’s campaigns for a decade and was one of the most trusted members of Ryan’s inner circle — was convicted by a jury of racketeering and later pleaded guilty to bid rigging. He became a star witness at the Ryan trial.

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